Is your general health deteriorating for no real reason?Have you blamed it on stress and bad luck?Well, fortunately, you might have just found an explanation after all.

Your exhaustion, stress and gastrointestinal issues may be easily blamed on an issue more common than people think.

Candida albicansCandida albicans are tiny yeast organisms that exist in high numbers throughout your body, though generally don’t cause you any harm. In fact, Candida yeast actually assists with digestions and nutrient absorption. When there is an overgrowth of this type of yeast, however, then you can begin to experience less-than-ideal symptoms.

Unbalancing The ScaleCandida yeast thrives in unbalanced environments. Similarly, when your brain notices that your body is out of whack, it acts accordingly. Yeast overgrowth can affect the entire neurological system with its imbalances, which leaves you with severe mood disorders such as dramatic mood swings, anxiety and even depression.

You May Feel Extra SleepyOne of the most sufferable symptoms of Candida overgrowth is the constant fatigue that people feel. This fatigue is not simply cured by getting an extra few hours of sleep or taking an extra rest. Instead, it can last longer than six months and will eventually prevent you from completely regular daily tasks with a cloud of chronic exhaustion, joint pain and overall blood fogginess.

More Than an Upset StomachYeast and other bacteria is found in your gut at all times, since they are partly responsible for nutrient absorption and digestion. However, an overgrowth of Candida affects the efficiency of the digestive system. In large numbers, Candida breaks down the walls of the digestive tract, allowing toxins such as acetaldehyde (a known carcinogen) to enter the bloodstream. Similarly, an overgrowth of Candida can increase the chances of leaky gut syndrome, which also allows toxins and partially digestive food particles into the bloodstream.

A Toxic BodyAs a result of leaky gut syndrome, Candida yeast has an effect on the liver. When too many toxins are released into the bloodstream via broken down intestinal walls, the liver must work overtime to cleanse these toxins. As a result, an overloaded liver cannot do the same high-quality job that a regular-working liver can, which results in a high number of toxins floating throughout your body.

The Entire BodyThe culmination of stress, gastrointestinal issues and an overburdened liver triggers a negative response in the immune system. This negative response is reflected as chronic inflammation of the entire body, including weight gain, skin rashes, brain fog and eventually, autoimmune disease. These symptoms are severe enough to cause pain, prevent the efficiency of regular daily tasks and cause harm to your body in the long run.

But How Did I Get These Yeast Overgrowths?There are a few lifestyle factors that affect the growth of Candida yeast. The first cause is a poor diet; diets that are high in sugar, acid, fermented foods and alcohol encourage yeast growth. Yeast thrives in high-sugar and acidic environments.

The overuse or misuse of antibiotics is another cause of the overgrowth of yeast. Some antibiotics, or simply the overuse of antibiotics, clear away “good” yeast and allows Candida yeast to prevail. It is crucial to use antibiotics as directed and perhaps try a more natural remedy for infections in the future to reduce the use of antibiotics.

In addition to antibiotics, oral contraceptives or birth control pills also have an effect on the growth of yeast. Birth control pills allow for an estrogen dominance throughout the body (which simply means that there is more estrogen than progesterone present in the body), which stimulates Candida growth in other places besides the gut.

Lastly, Candida growth is encouraged by stress. If your body’s mental health is out of balance and your body is under great stress, then this could result in a Candida yeast overgrowth. Unfortunately, the imbalance or disturbance in the gut and the rest of your body can affect your brain’s proper capacity, therefore leaving your body in a constant cycle of stress and yeast growth.

How Can I Prevent Overgrowth?Though the overgrowth of Candida yeast running rampant in your body may seem severely inconvenient, there are several ways to reduce the risk of developing an overgrowth. Consuming probiotics in the form of food or in supplements may help to increase the number of “good bacteria” and discourage more growth of this “bad” bacteria.

The most important way to decrease the amount of Candida in your body is simply to clean up your diet. Improving your diet means ridding your meals of acidic foods and beverages, consuming lots of green vegetables, consuming less starch and sugar and drinking plenty of water. Eliminating or reducing alcohol consumption is also largely beneficial to your gut health.

​​The Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet.

What exactly is a plant-based diet? A plant-based diet is not a diet of vegetables alone. It is a diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, which may exclude or minimize meat, including chicken, dairy products and eggs. The diet will definitely exclude foods made from refined flour and sugar, and certain refined vegetable oils.

There are several food categories from which to choose, and most of these can be included as ingredients in familiar dishes you may want to prepare, such as pizza, mashed potatoes, and burrito bases.

•Legumes: All varieties of beans such as black beans, lima beans, kidney beans, and cannellini beans, as well as legumes like chickpeas and lentils. Bear in mind that iodized salt should be added to your food as it is a great source of iodine to help maintain a healthy thyroid. The basis of a plant-based diet. Starch-based foods and fruit form the basis of a whole-food plant-based diet. While leafy greens play an important part in the diet, they are low in calories and do not provide much of an energy source, so they may result in decreased energy levels, and leave you feeling hungry. However, combined with starch-based foods like corn, peas, potatoes etc, provide fantastic all-round nourishment, and keep the energy pumping.

The idea of a plant-based diet is not to eat one food for a single nutrient, such as oranges for vitamin C, as an example. The main plan of a plant-based diet is eat what is known as a package of the foods that you enjoy, which contain all the essential nutrients. This package can provide you with most of your daily nutrient needs, and be of enormous benefit to your general health.

Health benefits of a plant based diet. •A plant-based diet automatically lowers blood pressure because of the potassium- rich legumes and nuts. •Plants contain no cholesterol, and this includes the super-food coconut oil. •The fiber in plants helps to fight high blood sugar, by slowing down the absorption of sugars into the blood stream. •A low fat, plant-based diet seriously lowers your risk of falling prey to cancer. •Weight loss happens naturally when you eat wholesome, unrefined foods, lots of fiber, take in natural vitamins and minerals, rather than animal fats and sugary, floury foods. •Research has shown that replacing saturated animal fats with the mono-unsaturated fats found in nuts, avocados and olive oil, substantially lowers your risk of cardiovascular and heart disease. •You will also experience less inflammation in the body which is caused by sugary and fatty foods that can lead to other problems like constipation. The fiber in a plant based diet will keep your colon healthy.

Plant-based foods contain nutrients which are in proportion according to our human needs, and a variety of whole foods will easily meet your nutritional needs.

The best way to start a plant-based diet.Changing to an almost vegan-type will not be easy, especially if you have not been a healthy eater. Whether you want to fully embrace a plant-based diet, or perhaps keep chicken or fish as part of your diet is a decision that only you can make. But there is no doubt that reducing your meat intake, and following a plant diet is one of the best things you can do for your health.

If you are finding it difficult to immediately flip over to a new diet, here are some tips to help you on the way. •Begin with including legumes in your regular diet, as they are generally feel-good foods, and will make you feel full, and give you energy. •You can also substitute one or two refined items with a plant-based food in a meal each day. •Gradually exclude red meat from your diet. •If you decide to retain chicken and fish in your diet, make sure that the chicken is organic and free range, if possible, and opt for healthy fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, tuna or mackerel, for the omega 3 content. •A good idea is to replace one or two days of your week’s meals with a full vegetarian, plant-based meal. Do this on a regular basis, until you no longer want to return to your previous way of eating.

Some meals you can try to prepare. •Sweet potato lasagna. •French fries baked with olive oil and herbs •Mashed cauliflower •Lima bean soup. •Tuscan white bean burgers. •Black bean and rice burritos. These meals are popular choices, and most of the recipes can be found on the internet.

Backed by science.The health benefits of a plant-based diet are supported by scientific research. Fatalities from heart problems is rated as the biggest single cause of death today, mainly due to poor lifestyle habits, and grossly unhealthy diets. Don’t be another victim, embrace a healthy diet and help lower your risk of a future heart attack, and cardiovascular disease.

​Breakfast for Busy Women – Why It’s Important Not to Skip

The alarm goes off and you are rushing around preparing for a busy day ahead, whether you have children to get ready for school, or papers to read for a morning meeting, by the time you’ve watched the news, brushed your teeth and sorted your make-up, you are already exhausted – sound familiar?

It’s no wonder so many busy women end up skipping breakfast and just grabbing an expensive coffee which is drunk in the car on the way. But there are many reasons why this habit is bad for our health.

Breakfast Provides Many Benefits to Our Health and WellbeingIf you think about it properly, when you wake up in the morning, your body has had no fuel since your evening meal the night before – potentially 12 hours beforehand – so your body is in starvation. Think about the words – “break” “fast” – literally the meal which breaks the fast you have been on while sleeping. You need the energy to kick-start your system and get your body ready for the day ahead.

According to nutritionists, a healthy breakfast should give you around 30% of your daily calorie requirements. It provides us with energy, protein, calcium, iron, fiber and B vitamins which are all needed to get you through the day. If your body doesn’t receive these first thing, studies have shown your body is less effective at taking them on during the rest of the day.

How Eating Breakfast Helps You Lose Weight If you skip breakfast you are not providing your body with what it needs for energy and you will soon get hungry and are more likely to then reach for high sugar, high fat snacks, to compensate. People who skip breakfast tend to end up reaching for the snacks around 10am which doesn’t help if you are trying to lose weight. In terms of time, breakfast really needs to be eaten between 45 minutes and two hours of waking up. This timing gives you the chance to put the needed fuel into your body to make sure your metabolism is balanced throughout the day. It is also the premium time for your body to absorb any of the carbohydrates you consume, which helps balance out your insulin levels. All of these aspects mean breakfast really sets your body up for the day and can help curb those mid-morning sugar cravings. In a study it was revealed that people who not only ate breakfast, but made it their largest meal, lost almost 18 pounds over a three month period. The other people, who took part in the study, eating the same calories during the day but most of these for their evening meal, lost only around seven pounds. This study was published in Obesity.

Other Health Benefits Beyond Weight Loss Breakfast brings a large number of health benefits, besides weight loss – providing more reasons why it really is important not to skip this particular meal.

Brain Function Studies have proven that children who eat breakfast do better at school as they are better able to concentrate and behave well. If it has this benefit for our children, then it will do the same for us. Breakfast helps to restore the levels of glucose which help with our brain function. This helps to improve memory, concentration and mood and also lowers stress levels. We all know that feeling of anger that rises up through being hungry. Breakfast can help us avoid this.

Energy Supply Breakfast is the first supply of energy your body receives when you wake up, making it part of your daily required calorie intake. A good nutritious breakfast will give you all the energy you need to take you through to lunchtime, and should be around 300 calories as a general rule. If you think about the energy you burn, you need the most in the morning and you need the least in the evening, when you are more likely to be sat on the sofa relaxing. Make breakfast your energy priority.

DiabetesIn the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a published study revealed that not eating breakfast could actually increase the risk of diabetes for women. The study showed that women who did eat breakfast between no, and six times a week, were at far higher risk of developing the disease than those who ate it daily.

Fab Ideas for Quick and Nutritious Breakfasts for Busy Women So it’s all very well telling you as a busy woman, why you should eat breakfast, and why it’s good for you, but realistically you probably knew most of those things already and yet, you were still skipping? Knowing you need to eat breakfast, doesn’t mean you suddenly gain time in the morning to start preparing and making amazing morning meals does it? That’s why I came up with some tips for tasty breakfasts that are super quick to make. An Energy Bar and Fruit The combination of a piece of fruit and energy bar creates a balanced breakfast, providing fiber and vitamins. What can be quicker than just peeling a wrapper and a piece of fruit and eating them straight away? Just doing this could make a big difference to your health. Instant Porridge There are many instant porridge sachets around now – all you need to do is add water and microwave for a few minutes and then you have a healthy breakfast. Avoid the ones with added sugar and flavors, to keep the calories down but a plain version provides an easy breakfast virtually instantly. Greek-Style YoghurtGo for natural plain Greek-style yoghurt and add in fresh fruit, for a nutritious, quick and healthy breakfast on the run. Again, this only takes a minute or so to prepare and can make a big difference to your health and wellbeing. High-Fiber Cereal or Oats Fiber can bring health benefits and help you feel full so opting for a high fiber cereal will provide your body with a good start to the day. Make sure you avoid the traditional sugar filled cereals as these will increase your calorie intake while not necessarily helping provide what your body needs. Go instead for the more natural cereals and oats that have no processing for optimal nutrition.

For many women, a busy lifestyle means rushing in the morning and skipping breakfast is a common but bad habit to get into. Breakfast can make a big difference to our health and weight, reaping the benefits for us and there are many options which are quick and easy to make, from smoothies, to energy bars, from cereal to scrambled eggs, so no more excuses ladies!

​One of my personal goals for health and wellness has been to explore gut health and start intentionally incorporating more gut friendly things into our meals and lifestyle. What a fascinating topic! There are several simple steps you can take to support your gut health.

What Is Gut-Health?There has been lots of talk recently about what has become known as “gut-health.” The Johns Hopkins Medical Center website, one of the most well-respected hospitals and Medical Schools in the United States, there is a good reason for this. Hidden within the walls of your digestive system is what is known as “your second brain” and this “brain in your gut” is changing the way that we look at the links between mood, digestion, health and even the way that you think.

Does Disease Begin with Gut-Health?The answer is not exactly. Not all the diseases start in the gut. For an example, it doesn’t apply to the genetic or inherited diseases. But, there are evidences that lots of chronic metabolic diseases do. They begin in the gut. We can prevent these diseases by following some easy steps.

Step 1: Know What Second Brain and Why Does It MatterThis “little brain” is called the “enteric nervous system” or ENS and it comprises 2 thin layers of over 100 million nerve cells that line your GI tract from your esophagus to your rectum. The role of the ENS is to control digestion, including swallowing to releasing the enzymes that help break food down, to the control of blood flow, which aids with both nutrient absorption and elimination. The ENS communicates with our brain with significant results. When you have an unhealthy gut the symptoms of that can manifest themselves in other parts of your body. It’s your body trying to tell you that something is wrong or out of balance. Studies have found that increasing your gut-health can lead to improvements in:• Immune function – 80% of our immune system is located in our guts• Brain function• Symptoms of anger, sadness, and depression• Obesity• Toxin levels in the body• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)• Allergies• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

What Results? How Is This Even Possible?The ENS may sense things that our cerebral brain can’t. Evidence has been found that when the GI tract is irritated it sends signals to the central nervous system, which can trigger our mood and ultimately affect it. When you consider that between 30%-40% of the population has bowel problems of some kind and that a higher percentage of these individuals develop depression and/or anxiety it’s easy to see how there could be a connection.

Our bodies are filled with bacteria – good and bad. There are more bacteria in a human body than there are cells and there are an estimated 100 trillion microorganisms living in our bowels alone (http://www.naturallivingideas.com/ 13-ways-to-improve-gut-health/.) The key here is to have more good than bad bacteria in your gut – the fancy name for the good microorganisms is probiotics. Probiotics help us do things like:

Digest food;

Absorb nutrients;

Break down medications; and

Kill some of the bad bacteria that lead to infection.

Step 2: Get More Probiotics There are quite a few ways to get probiotics, but one of the easiest is to take a supplement called a probiotic. You will find many different kinds under different brand names and it would be a good idea to talk to your physician or pharmacist to see which is the brand that they recommend.There are foods that are also high in probiotics. These foods include:

Cheese – Gouda, Cheddar, Provolone, and Gruyere are some examples

Buttermilk

Kefir

Komboucha Tea

Kimche

Miso

Sauerkraut

Apple Cider Vinegar

Yogurt – be sure and read the labels on the different yogurts

Getting more probiotics into your system is one of the best ways that you can improve your gut-health.

More Probiotics, What Else? The ones that your grandmother and mother told you - stress less and laugh more. Stress, especially long-term stress, not only affects our gut bacteria, but it also affects the productions of hormones and neurochemicals that communicate with our brain. When it is long-term stress these chemicals and hormones can change permanently (unless you specifically work to change them back). Long-term stress may also lead to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), stomach ulcers, IBD, IBS, and potentially food allergies

Laughter really is the best medicine. It helps to reduce stress and floods your body with the happy hormones and chemicals that make the good overtake the bad. There was even a study conducted (you can read more about it by clicking the link,) https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19543102, where researchers studied healthy people as well as those with atopic dermatitis – a disease that is often associated with imbalances in gut bacteria. The researchers had the participants watch funny movies daily for one week. In only one week, the patients’ gut flora had changed and resembled the healthy participants.

Step 3: Play in The Dirt!This is true both literally and figuratively. Gardening is good for you because it gets you outside, gives you exercise, and putting your hands in soil introduces your body to the microorganisms that are found on the plants and in the ground. In a more figurative way, stop killing all the bacteria. They have recently stopped putting anti-bacterial agents in things because humans are killing all the bacteria, the good and the bad. And what is happening? The bad bacteria are getting stronger and the good bacteria are dying.

Studies have shown that kids who grow up with a dog have both a lower risk of allergies and a healthier immune system. Dogs are associated with a type of house dust that actually exposes us to important strains of bacteria, L. johnsonii is one, which is essential within the digestive tract (http://www.naturallivingideas.com/13-ways-to-improve-gut-health/.) Dogs also work somewhat like a probiotic, helping develop healthy bacteria that boost your immune system, stopping you from getting ill, and possibly reducing allergies. Dogs also help you, or in some cases force you, to exercise more and help relieve stress in your life.

Conclusion It may well be that a large part of maintaining good health is maintaining good gut-health. There are many ways that you can do this, including exercise, and learning to listen to your body; however, some of the easiest changes that you can make are to:

Get plenty of probiotics – through supplements and food

Laugh

Manage your stress better

Don’t over sterilize or try and kill all bacteria

How do you incorporate gut health into your diet and lifestyle?​Resources: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/healthy_aging/healthy_body/the-brain-gut-connection http://www.naturallivingideas.com/13-ways-to-improve-gut-health/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1954310http://www.menshealth.co.uk/healthy/how-dogs-boost-your-immune-system